Many households in north India use coal fire during the harsh winter. (Representational)
A two-year-old child and his mother died of suffocation, and three other family members were hospitalised due to a coal fire lit in their Delhi home to shield them from the chill. The tragic incident took place late on Saturday night at the family's rented home in south Delhi's Maidan Garhi, senior police officer Ankit Chauhan has said.
Dinesh, his wife Anjali (23), sons Devansh (6) and Shambhu (2) and daughter Devasi (4) were sleeping in the room. Dinesh worked as a gardener at a farmhouse in Asola. Like lakhs of households in the urban slums in the national capital, he had opted for a cheaper alternative to a room heater - a coal fire - to protect his family from the cruel January chill. The doors and windows were shut to guard them against the cold breeze. This proved to be deadly.
Late at night, hours after they had drifted to sleep, the couple and their children woke up, struggling to breathe. They were rushed to Safdarjung Hospital, where doctors said Anjali and her youngest were dead. Dinesh and his two other children are under treatment.
Burning of coal in a room without ventilation produces carbon monoxide. Inhaled in large quantities, carbon monoxide can lead to unconsciousness, tissue damage and even death.
Every year, several deaths are reported from across north India due to carbon monoxide poisoning caused by burning of coal in rooms without ventilation.
Just two weeks before this incident, a couple in Delhi's Dwarka suffocated to death after they left a coal burning on a brazier in their room. Their two-month-old child survived the incident.